acknowledgement

with all your support and help, i successfully defended my thesis in a viva voce examination today, friday 7 december 2007 in the university of manchester. i was awarded with a first class PhD with a very minor correction (A2). i will never be able to thank you enough for your great support during my three year research.

Many people deserve thanks and appreciation for this thesis. Ian Miles and Lawrence Green are the first on the list for their guidance and support as my supervisors. Had Lawrence not patiently responded to all my emails while I was desperately waiting for financial support in the deferral period of my PhD admission between 2002-2004, I would have been discouraged and maybe never returned to Manchester. Lawrence together with Ian, had been an invaluable source for my research by being available at anytime, despite their hectic schedule. Ian endlessly encouraged me to finish my PhD on time and provided many interesting ideas how that could be achieved.

I owe great gratitude to two Indonesian scholars for their precious contributions and continuous encouragement as well as solidarity. In Manchester, Gindo Tampubolon introduced me to some methodological approaches to help my exploration to this research area. In Jakarta, Bernardino Herry-Priyono helped me understand some complicated issues within the philosophy of social science. Their thoughts and input were always meaningful. I also feel thankful to Kate Barker who continuously supported my study and Maria Nedeva who was always a good friend and ‘informal mentor’ during my PhD. Also to Jeremy Howells, Deborah Cox, Jeff Butler, John Rigby, Duncan Thomas, and Dimitri Gagliardi, from whom I had the opportunity to learn as I worked with them in a number of projects in PREST. I feel grateful that PREST (especially through Ian, Jeremy and Debbie) had given me a job as a Research Assistant during my PhD, on which the survival of my family depended. Lesley Price also deserves thanks as she always helped me with many administrative matters, both for my study and my work, during my PhD research.

It felt weird when I recalled that eight years ago I neither spoke nor wrote in English and yet now had to write a PhD thesis in English. That was why the help in improving my written English had always been highly valuable. I thank particularly Jillian Yeow, Kathryn Morrison, and Adam McGovern for their huge help, as well as Armin Bobsien, Adriana Sri Adhiati, Sovyana Putranti, and Isdiana Akmiranda for their ‘collective’ help in spotting mistakes in the chapters and increasing the readability of this thesis. Lawrence, too, spent some of his valuable time not only to supervise my work but also to correct my English.

My fieldwork received enormous assistance from many fellow CSO activists in Indonesia. It is impossible to mention all of them here, but I would like to thank Idaman Andarmosoko for his help in running three workshops during my fieldwork; Yayasan Air Putih in Aceh who provided accommodation for me while I was carrying out FGD in the area; Budi Susanto who allowed me to use Realino Hall for the workshop in Yogyakarta; and Margaretha Sulistyawati who liaised with the University Surabaya in hosting the workshop in Surabaya. Also special thanks to my colleagues in the Business Watch Indonesia (BWI) and Uni Sosial Demokrat (Unisosdem) for their lasting solidarity.

I have received huge financial support from some institutions during this research: Porticus, Benevolentia, and ‘John Paul II 100 Scholarship’ Vatican. The rector of Atmajaya Catholic University in Jakarta, Bernadette Setiadi, had played an important role here. I also received a grant from FES Germany thanks to Hans-Joachim Esderts. Later on, HIVOS, AoIR, and EUROSEAS, together with PREST, funded me to attend some conferences in Europe, Asia, and Australia during the course of this study.

Without camaraderie of my fellow students at PREST, this PhD research would have been unbearable. So, I would like to thank Hong-Tak Lim, Graciela Sainz, Barakat Al-Otaibi, Abdullah Gok, and Jong-Seok Kim from 7.09. Also some friends in the corridor with whom I shared the misery during the research: Jillian Yeow, Sally Gee, Sawitree Sutthijakra, Alger Lee, Raimondo Guerra, Joana Almodovar. In particular Marco Jaso helped me with the design of the survey.

My family have been a long lasting source of energy during this exhaustive research. Not only those in Indonesia (Solo, Pontianak and Surabaya), but mainly, and most importantly, those who are around: my wife Ira, my daugther Aruna, and my son Nara –who have always been the inspiration and motivation in my life.

mer, you’re exactly right. success is a function of network ..🙂 i realise it deeply. not only in my research, but i think the whole achievement that i have right now is mainly sourced from the networks i belong …🙂